New Poll Shows 63% of Americans Think Media Gives Them “Fake News”

During the 2016 presidential election, the American people finally saw just how low the mainstream media were willing to go to stop Donald Trump from defeating their chosen candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

While most people already knew that the media were inherently biased, the 2016 election cycle really opened their eyes to the extent of that bias, and they haven’t forgotten it, a new poll from Monmouth University showed.

In the poll, a whopping 63 percent of those surveyed stated that they believe the mainstream media report fake news. Broken down further, 27 percent believed it happens “regularly” while 36 percent stated that it happens “occasionally.”

Given the amount of fake news thrown about during the 2016 cycle, I’m actually surprised the numbers aren’t higher.

When it came to motives, 39 percent of those surveyed believed that the media published fake news to further their agenda.

There was a natural partisan split to the survey, with Republicans (79 percent) being far more likely than Democrats (43 percent) to accuse the mainstream media of promoting fake news.

“Many Americans believe that fake news is rampant across all types of media. The main outcome of this phenomenon seems to be that all news media outlets are now eyed with suspicion,” explained Patrick Murray, Monmouth University Polling Institute’s director.

Despite these poll numbers, it is unlikely that the mainstream media will do anything to change their behavior. They continue to push their own agenda, not realizing that it is simply causing people to turn away from them in ever-growing numbers.

The media should just report the facts of every situation. Leave the spinning to the pundits and the public.